It may take a long time, exactly the entire first act (of three) to bring us into the superb and commendably civilized core of N.C. Hunter’s play, but the rewards in the remaining two-thirds are considerable. Some may see its exposition as a direct link to Anton Chekhov, but what is wrong with that, considering the story that unfolds has a resonance that speaks as much to a then as it does to its now which for the play is England in 1953? The Mint Theater needs no more accolades than it has already been given as we are once again being treated to a beautifully acted and well-staged vintage play that might not ordinarily get an airing.
Here is another from Hunter’s canon that like the previous play of his produced by the Mint a few years back, A Picture of Autumn, has a civility and an elegance to lend considerable balance its unsettling heart-breaking story. It is set at the seaside summer residence of the Anson family for which the designer James Morgan has created with a minimum of effort and a maximum of taste. In it, a compulsively responsible careerist Julian Anson (Julian Elfer) is suddenly and unexpectedly immersed in a mid-career and mid-life crises, one that soon unwittingly embroils the family group around him.
Without histrionics, there is turbulence afoot soon enough with the arrival of an officer from the personnel department of the foreign office Humphrey Caldwell (Sean Gormley) whose news to Julian is not good. That it shatters Julian’s image of himself, a life and a career that he thought was assured, serves as a key to unlocking and revealing the dashed hopes and dreams of those around him. Most prominently among others whose lives also appear to be gracefully or not unraveling are the aptly critical and judgmental family matriarch Laura Hanson (Jill Tanner), her ailing brother-in-law (George Morfogen), his resident alcoholic caregiver (Philip Goodwin), and the most romantically conflicted Frances Farrar (Katie Firth) who was raised as Laura’s ward, married twice with two children and once in love with the totally clueless Julian.
Under the precise but not too precious direction of Austin Pendleton, the splendid cast has plenty to say that not only pricks our ears put brings us into the heartland of a family, a culture and a society that knows what it means to carry on. Elfer is terrific as the guy who gave too little thought to his love and too much dedication to his a job. The always fine Morfogen almost steals scenes by not speaking much but saying plenty. For the others who have lots to say, let us say they express it with finesse, a trait that is sorely missing in many a newer play. So pleased that the phrase “out with the old and in with the new” has no place at the Mint.
